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Development of visual pursuit in the first 6 years of life

  • Clinical Investigation
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Abstract

Background

There are few previous investigations on the development of smooth visual pursuit in children. The aim of this study was to determine normative values for the development of horizontal and vertical smooth pursuit in a large number of normal children.

Methods

Eye movements of 358 healthy children aged 6 weeks through 6 years were recorded using infrared photo-oculography. Visual pursuit was elicited with colored squares of 1.2° of visual angle. The stimulus moved horizontally or vertically with constant velocities of 7.5, 15, or 30°/s.

Results

Attention time increased with increasing age from 0.54 to 0.77 (P<0.01) and decreased with increasing stimulus velocities (P<0.01). The ratio of time of smooth pursuit to time of smooth pursuit plus saccades increased with increasing age from 0.63 to 0.78 (P<0.01) and decreased with increasing stimulus velocities (P<0.01). For stimulus velocities of 7.5°/s, no significant difference was found between horizontal and vertical gain values. For stimulus velocities of 15°/s and 30°/s, gains for horizontal movements were larger that for vertical (P<0.05). Increasing stimulus speeds were associated with decreasing gains (P<0.05).

Conclusions

This study provides the following normative values for photo-oculography in healthy children aged 6 weeks through 6 years of age: attention time, smooth pursuit time, and gain for three stimulus velocities presented horizontally and vertically. This normative database should help to diagnose pathologic ophthalmological or neuropediatric conditions, to perform screening interventions, and to initiate therapies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Experimental Oculography, Kantonsspital, St Gallen, Switzerland

    Adrian Rütsche, Ann Baumann, Xiaoyi Jiang & Daniel S. Mojon

  2. Institute for Informatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Xiaoyi Jiang

  3. Department of Strabismology and Neuro-Ophthalmology, Kantonsspital, 9007, St Gallen, Switzerland

    Daniel S. Mojon

Authors
  1. Adrian Rütsche
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  2. Ann Baumann
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  3. Xiaoyi Jiang
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  4. Daniel S. Mojon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel S. Mojon.

Additional information

This research followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethical Committee of Kantonsspital St Gallen.

This study was supported by Swiss National Science Foundation (Bern, Switzerland) Grant 3200-052503.97/1 and the OPOS Foundation (St Gallen, Switzerland).

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Rütsche, A., Baumann, A., Jiang, X. et al. Development of visual pursuit in the first 6 years of life. Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmo 244, 1406–1411 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-005-0248-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-005-0248-4

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